Italian PM to Press for Updated EU-Mexico Accord During Official Visit to Mexico City

Italian Prime Minister to Press for Updated EU-Mexico Accord During Official Visit to Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY – Visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta made a commitment on Monday to work with Mexico this year to update the 1997 Cooperation Accord between the Aztec nation and the European Union.

“We have to update the trade agreement between Europe and Mexico, we have to strengthen it,” Letta told a press conference shared with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Letta recalled that Italy will occupy the rotating EU presidency beginning July 1, at a time when Mexico and Europeans seek to modernize their Economic Partnership, Political Cooperation and Cooperation Agreement

He said that Italy is Mexico’s “best ambassador in Europe” and for that reason it will do everything possible “to make sure there is a positive end result” from negotiations to bring the treaty up to date by the end of the year.

Letta said that Italy’s association with Mexico, its second biggest trade partner in Latin America, has been a wise move because “it will be one of the leading nations in the future.”

“Mexico will be seen as a leader in the history of this century and Italy wants to be by its side,” he said.

At the event, which preceded a dinner for the dignitaries and their delegations, the Mexican president said that relations with Italy, its third biggest trade partner among European countries, “has a lot of room to grow.”

Letta’s visit was a way “to expand and strengthen even more the ties that historically have been constructed between the two nations,” he said.